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EDITORIALS
Dec 28, 2007

Drain of public trust in 2007

In the past year, Japan has been rocked by political turmoil — especially the devastating defeat of the ruling coalition in the July 29 Upper House election, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's abrupt resignation in September and Mr. Yasuo Fukuda's ascent to power. An attempt to form a grand coalition between...
Reader Mail
Dec 27, 2007

Whom would Jesus have bombed?

Whom would Jesus have bombed?1111111111
JAPAN
Dec 26, 2007

Time ripe for better ties: Iran envoy

A recent U.S. report that concluded with "high confidence" that Iran halted its nuclear arms program in 2003 offers a key opportunity to expand Japan-Iran ties, Iranian Ambassador to Japan Mohsen Talaei said.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 25, 2007

Nuclear facilities as targets

LOS ANGELES — The drumbeat appears to be growing louder: Western leaders repeatedly declare that no option is off the table to stem Iran's nuclear ambitions. And, in mid-November, London's Sunday Times reported that Israel put defenses around its Dimona nuclear reactor on "red alert" 30 times, as worries...
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2007

Christmas letter to Pope Benedict XVI

HONG KONG — Until three years ago, you had a well-earned reputation as the fierce watchdog of the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. You were nicknamed "God's Rottweiler."
Reader Mail
Dec 23, 2007

'Research' can't hide self-interest

Once again I am amused at how Japanese work to conceal their self-interest in hunting whales in the Southern Ocean while claiming to engage in "scientific research." And it has been reported here that the official word from Tokyo is that Australia should be "calm." Meanwhile, the Japanese whaling ships,...
EDITORIALS
Dec 23, 2007

Wall on climate change comes down

It is a start. That's the best assessment of the agreement produced by the 190-some governments at the United Nations climate change conference in Bali, Indonesia, earlier this month. After an abrupt U-turn by the United States, delegates reached consensus on a new framework for tackling global warming....
BASEBALL / BASEBALL BULLET-IN
Dec 23, 2007

CL's second-division teams stock up on foreign players

The Yokohama BayStars and Hiroshima Carp, realizing they need to do something in order to compete with the powerhouse Yomiuri Giants and Chunichi Dragons, are bringing in a slew of foreign players to fill in the body spaces and — hopefully — the talent void left by the loss of star American and Japanese...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 21, 2007

'Kazoku no Hiketsu'

The Kansai region, which includes the cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, is Japan's comedy center. The biggest comedy talent agency, Yoshimoto Kogyo, is based in Osaka and its comics mostly deliver their quips in the Kansai dialect.
EDITORIALS
Dec 21, 2007

Tax reform minus the long view

The ruling coalition's tax reform proposals for fiscal 2008 are apparently aimed at getting votes in coming general elections. They fail to address long-term issues such as how to divide tax-revenue sources equitably between the central and local governments and how to overhaul the tax system to reconstruct...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Dec 21, 2007

'I carry The Who brand with pride'

I first met The Who's Pete Townshend 10 years ago at a hotel near his home in London for an interview. He entered the first-floor suite energetically. When he sat down, his crossed legs bounced with barely contained passion in response to each question.
COMMENTARY / World / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Dec 21, 2007

Fukuda's point of no return

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi rocked the Japanese political landscape in November by predicting that Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda would dissolve the Lower House and call a general election "in the near future."
COMMENTARY
Dec 20, 2007

'Supping with the devil' to sign a deal

LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown's decision to boycott the EU-African Summit held recently in Lisbon won general approval in Britain. He did not attend because Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, was going to be at the meeting.
Japan Times
SOCCER
Dec 19, 2007

Yamaguchi looks back on outstanding year at FSU

As final exams winded down at Florida State University last week, many students were likely ready to make the long trek home for the holidays. Although it's probably a safe bet it didn't take them over 20 hours in a plane to get there.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2007

UFOs 'definitely exist,' Machimura asserts

definitely exist," Machimura stressed. "How else do you explain those various unexplainable things like Nazca," he said, referring to the series of mysterious giant drawings of animals and other figures on an arid plateau in southern Peru. Earlier Tuesday, the government made an official statement that...
Japan Times
LIFE / Style & Design
Dec 18, 2007

Taking time for younger children

Every morning I trundle my daughter onto my bicycle and up the hill to her public day-care center in central Tokyo before heading off to work.
SOCCER
Dec 17, 2007

Reds top Etoile on penalties in third-place game

YOKOHAMA —Urawa Reds can now lay claim to the somewhat spurious title of the world's third-best club.
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2007

Stars in their guides

Last month, Tokyo's restaurants received their stars. For the first time, the famed Michelin Guide, the most respected and feared guidebook in Europe, published a volume outside the Western world. Noted for its make-or-break effects on European hotels and restaurants, the publication was greeted in Tokyo...
Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Dec 16, 2007

Tokyo's real floating world

One interesting phenomenon this year has been the growing popularity of tours to such unlikely places as factories and old bridges, where grimy stone walls, rusting mazes of pipes and crumbling concrete constructions have become a lure for worshippers at the altar of brutalism. In many ways, these tours...
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 16, 2007

Japan stands back as the poor get poorer

One of the year's biggest selling books is Hiroshi Tamura's "Homeless Junior High School Student," a memoir focusing on the 28-year-old comedian's adolescence.
COMMENTARY
Dec 15, 2007

Can Kim do the right thing?

HONG KONG — The six-party talks hosted by China on North Korea's nuclear-weapons program have reached a critical stage, and signs are that while the disabling of the nuclear reactor at Yongbyon is going well, the overall denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula may be in jeopardy.
Reader Mail
Dec 13, 2007

U.S. faces stronger South America

The Dec. 7 editorial "Hugo Chavez, democrat" -- about the defeat of a Chavez-backed constitutional reform package in Venezuela's recent referendum -- misses the whole point, or maybe The Japan Times just happens to share the U.S. perspective on South American geopolitics.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 13, 2007

Tehran's 'less is more' nuclear policy

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The recent United States National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which reports that Iran once had a "nuclear weapons program" but suspended it in 2003, means that there will probably be no American attack on Iran during the Bush administration. How could America's president explain...
EDITORIALS
Dec 12, 2007

Open debate on death penalty

In executing three death-row inmates last week, the Justice Ministry made public their names, the crimes they were convicted of and the locations of the executions. This break with its secrecy policy has slightly improved transparency in the nation's capital punishment system. This trend should not be...
EDITORIALS
Dec 11, 2007

Strengthening civilian control of SDF

A panel consisting of the chief Cabinet secretary, the defense minister and experts has started discussions on reform of the Defense Ministry. It is to issue an interim report in February. Its establishment was preceded by two serious incidents: the Nov. 28 arrest of former Vice Defense Minister Takemasa...
BASEBALL / Japanese Baseball
Dec 9, 2007

Oh's love for game, people endures

Sometimes the reality really is greater than the legend.

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji